Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Defining Kissing And Holding Hands As ‘Gateway Sexual Activity’

[the_gabih]

Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Haslem has signed the ‘Gateway Sexual Activity’ bill into law. Earlier this year, the Tennessee Republican controlled legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill, passing the House 68-23 and the Senate 28-1. The governor signed the bill before the Mother’s Day weekend.

The law is so vague that it could define

Comments

[sweeetkiwi]

that is the dumbest thing i ever heard

[carlalute]

Yeah...luckily it's a gross exaggeration of the actual bill. As a concerned Tennessean I did a little extra research and read the bill summary, available here: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billinfo/BillSummaryArchive.aspx?BillNumber=HB3621&ga=107... )

[the_gabih]

The trouble there is, where do you draw the line between promoting and discussing? There's not that big a difference, and if teachers are unclear about it, that could cause problems.

And then there's this part- (2) Encourage sexual health by helping students understand how sexual activity affects the whole person including the physical, social, emotional, psychological, economic and educational consequences of non-marital sexual activity; which sounds distinctly like a licence to slut-shame.

[carlalute]

That's a valid concern, but reading through a little more of the legal code it made sense to me. Promoting prostitution is illegal, discussing it is not. If a teacher or third party can't tell the difference between "these exist and I'll answer questions about them" and "you should do this" then they don't have the any business teaching sex ed

[astridmyrna]

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

[mirhanda]

It’s almost as if the GOP wants our kids to be stupid and unsafe

This is what I think they really do want. An army of uneducated, ignorant people who won't realize that they deserve better, that they can demand better wages and working conditions, that they can demand their rights to equal treatment, etc.

[effervescent]

It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Get the girls pregnant before they have a chance to go to school and see what else is out there for them, and they're more likely to stay home, raise their kids... And then because they had kids so early, their chances at getting a well paying job are down, so that means that their kids might not have the best chances at going to a great college.

There is such a sneaky backlash against all the advancements we've made over the last thirty to forty years and it's really scary.

[tabaqui]

They really, really do. It's quite terrifying.

[cuterabbit33]

Sooo is Tennessee suddenly seriously underpopulated, because the only reason I can think of to pass this law would be to ensure tons of teen pregnancies...

[prehnite]

This fucking state, I swear.